The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 73

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 73
Rather than respond to Hilda, I turned toward the corridor.
As the sharp click of my heels echoed across the marble floor, the man who’d been swinging his fists like a madman froze mid-motion.
Wolfgang, who’d been taking the beating like a corpse, lifted his gaze at that very moment.
He met my eyes before the man even turned his head. I watched as his blood-stained lips curved upward in a smile.
The lunatic. Beaten to a pulp and he’s grinning like that?
I averted my gaze from Wolfgang’s smile, looking lower to get a proper view of the man’s face—the one pummeling him so thoroughly.
“…Your Highness. That man bears a striking resemblance to Lord Wolfgang, doesn’t he?”
“The other way around, Hilda.”
The man looked like an aged version of Wolfgang, just as Hilda had said.
More precisely, a hideously withered Wolfgang. The man’s pupils, bloodshot with excitement, gleamed with something sordid and unwholesome.
I recognized him immediately.
‘Marquis Lichtenbrun.’
Wolfgang Lichtenbrun’s father. He was one of the most prominent nobles of the First Prince Faction.
The Marquis seemed to recognize me as well. He quickly withdrew one foot and bowed respectfully.
“The Moon of the Empire, Second Prince’s Consort Your Highness. I am Marquis Lichtenbrun.”
It was impeccable etiquette—almost impossible to believe it came from a man whose fists were soaked in his own son’s blood.
The Marquis withdrew a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped his hands. Then, with a smile that completely concealed his sadistic fervor, he spoke.
“What brings you to these quarters? I understand the Second Prince’s Consort Palace is quite some distance from here.”
For someone who’d just been caught committing such an act, his composure was remarkable.
He seemed utterly convinced that nothing I did would hold any sway over him.
I studied him quietly before speaking.
“Delighted to meet you, Marquis. I came to see your second son—that poor young man behind you who’s bleeding from the nose like a faucet.”
At those words, the Marquis’s lips twitched.
It was brief, but unmistakably a flash of displeasure.
“…Might I inquire as to the reason Your Highness has come to visit my son?”
“No.”
“…”
“Step aside. I’ve no interest in lingering conversation with a man of your station who beats his grown son senseless.”
“…!”
The mask the Marquis had worn throughout contorted completely in an instant.
He immediately revealed his true nature.
“Your Highness the Consort, perhaps your station has prevented you from fully grasping court etiquette, but how dare you speak with such disrespect…”
“Ugh, be quiet. I said leave.”
“L-leave? How dare you speak so crudely…”
“If you want to complain, go tell the First Prince—the one you love more than your own son. Tell him some ill-bred woman is muddying the Imperial Palace waters like a loach. Go on now. Shoo.”
I couldn’t be bothered to engage further.
Only Wolfgang and Hilda had witnessed this. Even if the Marquis spread word of what happened, it wouldn’t significantly impact my standing in the Imperial Palace.
‘My reputation is already in ruins—there’s nothing left to tarnish.’
In the end, it was merely a petty squabble between the First Prince Faction and the Second Prince’s Faction. Without the Emperor himself intervening, the matter couldn’t escalate.
Of course, the Marquis would never make a choice that brought dishonor upon his house.
“…You will come to regret what transpired today, Second Prince’s Consort.”
The Marquis glared at me as though he might throttle the life from my body that very instant. Or perhaps, in the depths of his mind, even more terrible punishments were being conceived.
When Maximilian seized imperial authority, there would be countless ways to humiliate me—the wife of the defeated.
“I trust that when next we meet, you shall remember your station as Crown Prince’s Consort and conduct yourself with greater propriety….”
“Pfft.”
What cut through the Marquis’s final attempt to suppress his composure was a deflated laugh.
When the Marquis turned his head, he was confronted with the belated sight of his son, hand clamped over his mouth, shoulders heaving with barely contained mirth.
“….”
The Marquis’s expression remained hidden, yet I could discern that he was clinging to the last thread of his sanity by the thinnest of margins.
Without a word, the Marquis turned his head away, his face flushed crimson as he bowed at the waist.
“I shall take my leave, Your Highness.”
His words came out slurred, as though his teeth were clenched so tightly they might shatter.
The Marquis straightened immediately and passed by my side without so much as a backward glance, offering not a single word of farewell to his own son.
I regarded Wolfgang with disdain as he remained there, hand still covering his mouth, shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter.
‘Truly an odd creature.’
Which explained why he had chosen me.
I turned to Hilda, who was watching Wolfgang with the bewildered expression of one attempting to solve an incomprehensible riddle.
“Hilda. You have the salve, don’t you?”
“Ah, yes, Your Highness.”
“Give him that and wait in the carriage.”
“Yes? But Your Highness.”
“Wolfgang is here. There’s nothing to fear.”
“…Well, yes. Though I confess, he appears to be the greatest danger of all, Your Highness. Nevertheless, I shall obey your command.”
Hilda hesitated before finally voicing the thought that had crossed her mind, then handed over the salve and returned to the carriage.
Now only Wolfgang—his face battered and bruised, shoulders still shaking—and I remained in the corridor.
“…Hehe, pahahaha!”
Only then did Wolfgang abandon all restraint, doubling over as uncontrolled laughter erupted from him.
‘He was watching Hilda’s expression, not his father’s?’
Wolfgang gripped the corridor pillar, breathing heavily as he finally managed to suppress his mirth.
His face, streaked with tears, was a canvas of wounds. Yet there was no trace of that bleak, soul-devouring shadow that had haunted him before.
…That was enough.
‘Foolish boy.’
I swallowed a sigh and stepped closer to him.
As I drew near, the wounds on his face and neck became more apparent. Bruises bloomed across his right eye and both cheeks in shades of blue. Blood trickled from between his split lips.
I furrowed my brow and handed him the salve, beginning my lecture.
“You took all of that? First, let’s tend to your wounds.”
“Phew, I nearly died laughing! It’s fine, Holy Maiden. You’ve just healed every wound in my heart.”
“Stop spouting nonsense and apply the salve.”
“I’ll apply it inside. You came here because there’s something we need to discuss, didn’t you?”
“Stop making a scene and apply it properly right now!”
Why was I surrounded by nothing but stubborn people?
Unable to contain myself, I snapped, and Wolfgang’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“….”
“Of course, you wouldn’t—”
“Face.”
Before Wolfgang could elaborate, I tore open the medicine in my hand.
The unpleasant smile on his face shifted in an instant.
“…Are you truly applying it yourself?”
“You asked me to. If you don’t like it, apply it yourself. Please.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Wolfgang’s voice became suddenly docile. He bent his upper body to meet my eye level.
After staring at me for a long moment, I issued one final warning.
“Close your eyes before I apply the medicine to them.”
“Yes.”
How irritating that his eyes closed so smoothly.
Brown hair swept back halfway. Sharp, angular features arranged with perfect symmetry.
How had someone so flawless ended up like this? It must be because he had a terrible father.
As I applied the medicine to the corner of his mouth, I began to speak.
“Rotar left. While I was sleeping.”
“I’m aware. He came to find me at dawn.”
“…Rotar?”
“Yes. He asked me to take good care of the Holy Maiden.”
“….”
“Doesn’t it sound absurd to you as well? Why would he ask me of all people? I’ve been the one protecting the Holy Maiden from the beginning.”
“No. I’ve failed to save you many times. That’s why he must have been so earnest.”
“Really, you’re too much.”
Even as we exchanged these trivial words, something stirred in a corner of my heart.
So that’s it. Rotar came all the way to Wolfgang and bowed his head.
If he was that worried, he shouldn’t have left me here.
I didn’t want to be alone. Playing the virtuous wife waiting endlessly for her husband who’d gone to war—it didn’t suit me anyway.
I spread the medicine across Wolfgang’s swollen red cheeks. It must have stung, yet he didn’t even furrow his brow.
Looking at that face, I hesitated for a moment before stating the reason I’d come here.
“Help me get to the Southern Region.”
“….”
“I have to go. You know that.”
Wolfgang’s eyelids slowly lifted.
He looked down at me with an expressionless face.
“Is that why you’re applying the medicine?”
“Wolfgang.”
“You’re trying to weaken my resolve. How pathetically feeble of you.”
Wolfgang’s lips twisted into a grimace. It was not a good sign.
“There’s no point in being disappointed now. I’ve become somewhat… excited without realizing it.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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